Game Picks - Saturday: July 9, 2011

On Saturday--or today by the time you read this--this game picker will be traveling back to Maine and leaving our Florida paradise. It's been a great three weeks and despite taking care of Mom and some R & R, no days were missed with the picks and some of the other daily articles have hit well and made their way to the home page of www.foxsports.com/mlb. Yes, fans, this writers devotion to this game is front and center.

Since the car will be here in the morning at 5:30 for the ride to the airport and since the final destination of Portland, Maine is for 2:00 P.M, these picks will have to be determined early and time delayed for the morning. After arriving in Portland, there is a six hour drive north to get home. Yeesh. That's a long day.

In a true screw for the fans, the Yankees' rain out on Friday won't be made up on Saturday. The Yankees didn't want to play a traditional double header because of the gate. The Bay Rays didn't want to do a day/night double header for unknown reasons. Why wouldn't they? Because there is a day game on Sunday? Puhlease. So the game won't be made up until September 22. That means that Derek Jeter has only two games to get his two hits needed for 3,000 instead of three. Thanks Yankees. Thanks Bay Rays. You both suck.

So here for you devoted readers are Saturday's picks:

• The Yankees over the Bay Rays: Like the Colon situation the other day, Price throws mostly fastballs. That could work for the Yankees at home. But...and this is a big but...A. J. Burnett is scheduled to pitch for the Yankees. Which would you rather skip? Burnett or Freddie Garcia? Tough choice, isn't it?
• The Phillies over the Braves: Cliff Lee will give the Braves fits, especially as a lefty against that line up. Tommy Hanson is very, very good. But the nod goes to Lee.
• The Twins over the White Sox: Brian Duensing seems to be back on his game. Going that direction instead of Mark Buehrle.
• The Padres over the Dodgers: It seems much more likely for Aaron Harang to pitch well enough to win than for Rubby de la Rosa to do the same.
• The Pirates over the Cubs: The pitching seems to even itself out with Ryan Dempster versus Kevin Correia. That being the case, pick the better team. Pittsburgh.
• The Rockies over the Nationals: Jason Marquis was supposed to pitch Friday, but was held back a day. John Lannon took his place and got hit with a comebacker in the face. Karma will get Marquis. Ubaldo Jiminez with the win.
• The Blue Jays over the Indians: Josh Tomlin is making a believer out of this picker. But...but...Brandon Morrow is a stud.
• The Red Sox over the Orioles: This would be a great time for a win for the Orioles as they face John "Lacking" Lackey. But the Orioles are starting Alfredo Simon. The last time Simon started a game was 2009 and he blew out his elbow.
• The Brewers over the Reds: It's simple. Shaun Marcum seems like a much better match up against the lefty-leaning Reds that Johnny Cueto does against the Brewers at home.
• The Tigers over the Royals: Charlie Furbush? Yeah, why not against the Royals and Luke Hochevar.
• The Cardinals over the Diamondbacks: Daniel Hudson is very good. When he is on, Chris Carpenter is better.
• The Rangers over the Athletics: Brandon McCarthy was impressive his last time out. But it was against the Mariners. The Rangers aren't the Mariners. Colby Lewis with the win.
• The Giants over the Mets: Chris Capuano is good. Tim Lincecum should be better. But he's been off his game of late. hmm...
• The Mariners over the Angels: In Michael Pineda we trust. In Joel Pineiro we don't.

And the Game of the Day!

• The Marlins over the Astros: Hanley is hitting. Stanton is hitting. That's a potent combination. Throw in Ricky Nolasco and you have a good chance to beat Brett Myers.

That's the picks. Can't give you a daily tally since this was written before the Friday games were over. Pray for safe travels if that is your thing. And thank you.